Point of View

The stories all use limited perspectives, meaning the narrative perspective always adheres to one character at a time. Some of the stories switch between character perspectives, but the perspective of the narration is always limited to one character’s thought, emotions, and experiences at any given point. About half of the stories use third-person narration, and about half of them use first-person narration. The differences in narration and perspective between third-person and first-person are not drastic in this story collection, but the uses of first-person narration are shaped more strongly by the point-of-view characters’ specific thought patterns.

The stories use clashes between character perspectives as a way of exploring multiple angles in regard to its various themes of interpersonal connection. For example, in the story “In the Old Days,” the narrator has different perspectives on culture and family than the views held by her mother...